Where do you guys see the DCT role going within the next 3-5-10 year span ?

If you’re a DCT NOW, you’re likely getting exposed to the NVL72 rack architecture and to me that seems like where the world is going. Very dense KW racks likely pushing 1MW racks with the onset of NVL572 racks.

Those two rack types alone set aside a lot of traditional DCT work that I was used to only 2-3 years ago where you get your tickets for the day and do some troubleshooting getting logs, seeing what’s wrong, root cause, parts replacements etc etc. Which all of this is still done today so don’t get me wrong, however it’s less and less since racks are becoming more dense and less prone to needing that kind of work.

Now we are increasingly seeing more white glove service from the likes of Dell for example who will have their techs do it all and warranty stuff with Nvidia for example.

I understand not very DC is AI driven, but it is a vast majority of them currently.

Hi everyone!

I recently applied for an L3 Data Center Technician (DCT) position at AWS. I completed the 15-minute screening call, and everything seemed to go well. The recruiter was very positive and told me he would reach out within a few days with an email about interview prep. He also mentioned that we would have another call before the interview loop.

About a week later, he called me and explained that the location I originally selected had filled up. He asked me to choose between two other locations, and I picked one. He said he would reach out again in a few days.It’s now been another week, and I still haven’t heard anything back.

However, another AWS recruiter recently reached out to me about the same position and asked me to schedule a 15-minute screening call over Zoom.
My question is, should I go ahead and schedule the screening with the new recruiter, or should I follow up with my original recruiter first? I don’t want to jeopardize my application or cause any confusion by going through two recruiters for the same role.
I’ve also heard that it’s not uncommon for recruiters to go quiet during the hiring process, so I’m not sure how to interpret the situation.

Any advice or insight from people who have gone through the AWS DCT hiring process would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

​

Hey everyone,

I recently completed all my interview rounds for a Google Data Center Technician III position. Today, the recruiter sent me this

email:

“Thank you again for meeting with the team to discuss the Data Center Technician position.

I would like to schedule a brief 10-minute call to touch base regarding your interview and share some feedback with you.

Do you have any availability this week?”

I'm trying to understand what this might mean.

For those who interviewed with Google, especially for DCT or other data center roles:

- Did you receive a similar email requesting a short call to discuss interview feedback?

- What was the outcome of the call? Did you receive an offer, move to team matching, remain under consideration, or get rejected?

- Did the recruiter explicitly tell you the outcome during the call, or was it just feedback?

I'm not looking for guesses based on the wording alone. I'd really appreciate hearing from people who experienced this themselves.

Thanks!

I've spent about a decade as a diesel mechanic and I am actively trying to get into the critical facilities/critical power/data center industry. I am a USMC veteran and completed NFPA 70E training. I was well liked by a CFMT Mgr but rejected after the final interview with the Sr director. Another place did the same thing. The feedback is that they went with someone who had more relevant experience but felt I was a good fit. So what can I do to get experience? I make around high 70k now, and a lot of these places are paying more but won't give me a shot. Others are posting significantly less. I wish I thought about this more when I was making less. Now I have a young family and can't afford a huge pay cut. I know with OT, etc I can make much more, but I don't want to rely on that alone. I want this to be a career for me, not just a job. I'm willing and able to learn and bust my ass. I can follow orders to a T. I just need a shot. I am near Chicago.

Another post. I've heard Vertiv will generally accept people with transferrable skills for their FST/CE position. I did a phone screen and the recruiter said the pay was $62-$68k. The job posting says $65-70k. Manager said no chance of going over 70k. More like 65-68k. I've always been told to negotiate. If I don't have DC experience, but have a decade of transferrable skills/experience, how can I even negotiate this? I want in. I want the career. But a $10k paycut off the bat is hard to swallow. I don't need insurance. Has anyone worked there recently that can tell me if that ceiling is actually true? Or if they were successful at negotiating?

Hey everyone!

I'm currently a Controls Engineer at an EPC company specializing in industrial gas liquefaction, CO2 recovery, and carbon capture. I'm looking to transition into data center project management around late 2028 or early 2029, preferably in WA, OR, or CA.

I am 26 years old and have a Master's in Electrical Engineering and work on $15–20M industrial projects. I'm responsible for delivering the Electrical, Instrumentation, and Controls (EIC) scope and managing electricians and field personnel during commissioning.
My technical background includes PLC programming, SCADA, HMI development, OT networking, electrical design, and industrial cooling systems. I also plan to obtain my PMP in 2027.

By the time I transition, I'll have around five years of engineering experience. I'm looking to move away from oil and gas and into an industry where I can leverage my technical and project delivery experience.

A few questions:
1. Would my background qualify me for Data Center PM, Technical PM, or Commissioning PM roles?
2. How transferable is industrial EPC and commissioning experience to data centers?
3. What skills or certifications should I focus on over the next two years?
4. Should I target hyperscalers like AWS, Google, and Microsoft, or data center EPC/engineering firms?

Would love to hear from anyone who's made a similar transition. Thanks!

Hey everyone. New to the sub but been following for a while.

I've been having a hard time finding qualified technical people to work on the liquid cooling side of data centers. Being a stationary engineer by trade, relocating, and now a Senior Chief it seems so odd that these skills are hard to come by.

Has anyone else experienced a lack of qualified talent?

Just curious if any small medium labs would be interested in 160 HX100 SXM GPU’s for compute? Going to be bringing them online soon as a new host before I jump to the cloud providers (vast, lambda, etc).

Steady grid power, secluded location, able to run what’s needed and wanting to stay around a $1.80-2.00/gpu hr rate.

Thoughts?

I spent 20 years in the automotive industry, including owning my own repair shop. No engineering degree, no IT background.
I recently made the jump into Google’s data center operations.
A year ago, I wouldn’t have thought my experience would qualify me for a job like this. Turns out, a lot of the skills I’ve spent my career developing transfer surprisingly well.
I had some help figuring out how to make the transition, and I’d like to pay that forward.
If you’re in the trades and have ever considered a career change, ask away. Happy to share what I learned about the application process, interviews, and getting my foot in the door.

Hello. As the title states I have update ID install interview coming up. Any information on interview will be gladly appreciated. I got 5 star answer so far working on getting like 3 more. What kind of technical questions can I expect to get is what I looking to get more of? I saw post on OSI model lay 1-3 knowledge, tools, and rack builds. Thanks in advance!

I have an upcoming interview for a Senior Project Planner position based in Germany, leveraging my 10 years of experience primarily in Primavera P6. Could you provide professional insights into scheduling best practices for data center construction, specifically regarding effective schedule packaging to enhance clarity and reporting? As a Civil Engineer transitioning into this sector, I would appreciate a comprehensive overview of the process and key project requirements.

Iive i Oklahoma, if i have no degree but i have the right certs are data center technician jobs really accessible?

Hii everyone! so as the name suggests I've got an interview with google coming up. I previously spoke with my recruiter for the 15 minute chat, and he gave me the outline of what I needed to know: Hardware, Networking, and Linux.

I have a good 3 weeks before my loop interview and want to brush up on these subjects before then. I have looked at some other forums on here and have gotten some good info, but wanted to ask those who went through the process what resources they used to prepare for any of the topics listed before. As of right now, I am rewatching some of Messer's network+ videos and might do the same thing for hardware later on. I would appreciate any resources you all can provide! Thanks!

Hi all, I’m starting soon as Dco tech in aws.
I know that smartwatch are not alloweed, but I’m curious to know if normal metallic watch are ok or there is some regulation for metal accessories to evitate antistatic problem even if use the anti static wrist
Someone have some experience to share?

Just saw my 1st commercial promoting data centers. How much $ do these guys have and how hated are they?

I have an upcoming interview with Amazon for a Data Center Commissioning role. My background is primarily in the pharmaceutical industry as a CQV (Commissioning, Qualification, and Validation) Engineer, with experience supporting commissioning and qualification of utility systems, equipment, and GMP facilities.

The job description mentions the following systems:

• Medium- and low-voltage power systems
• Generators
• UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)
• HVAC (air handlers, exhaust fans, VFDs)
• Chilled water systems
• Building Management Systems (BMS)
• Electrical Power Monitoring Systems (EPMS)
• Testing and balancing
• Pumps and hydronic systems

For anyone who has interviewed for or worked in an Amazon Data Center Commissioning role:

1. What should I expect during the interview process?
2. What technical questions should I focus on preparing for?
3. How in-depth do they expect candidates to understand electrical systems, generators, UPS, HVAC, and chilled water systems?
4. How much emphasis is placed on commissioning methodology, functional testing, and integrated systems testing (IST)?
5. Is pharmaceutical CQV experience transferable to this role, or do they expect hands-on data center commissioning experience?
6. Are there any behavioral or Leadership Principles questions I should prepare for?

Any advice, interview experiences, or study resources would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,
I recently interviewed for Google’s Data Center Technician 2 (DCT 2) position, but I received a rejection after the FIT call.
I am interested in applying for a Data Center Technician 1 (DCT 1) position, and I would like to know if anyone has been in a similar situation.
Does Google allow candidates who are rejected for DCT 2 during the FIT call to apply for DCT 1?
Is there a waiting period before applying for a different technician level?
Does the rejection affect applications to other Google data center positions?
If you have experience with Google’s hiring process or have gone through a similar situation, I would really appreciate your advice.

Hey guys,

I'm a student doing an assignment/case study on a hypothetical fund that has no technical ability but colo and some money for GB300s and they want to become a neocloud. They don't know what service to offer - bare metal, managed cluster, or an inference endpoint.

Would anyone here have financial and technical expertise across any of these three services? I would like to figure out what the best choice for them would be, how to model out expenses involved for each as well as revenue and margins. Would like to see how profitable each service is and what makes a company choose which service to provide.

Thanks in advance, if you have any resaerch or sources for me to read I would really appreciate it.

I have recently been approached by a recruiter for an opportunity to work at Damac Digital.

Does anyone have any experience or insight into working with them?

Company culture, that sort of thing? The salary seems too good to be true, they’re based out of Dubai and are a fairly new player to the market from what I can tell.

The opportunity is based out of Europe and is to work across multiple regions.

Hello
I am looking for first hand experience from folks who moved from stable careers to Data center industry with fast paced work environment.
For content, i work for a MV switchgear OEM and have Substation background with stable career
I want to gain experience in Data center industry mainly around substations . Is it worth it ? Would love some insights from anyone who moved frOM EPC or equipment manufacturer

This may not be the right forum, apologies if that is the case.

I have access to over 100MW of Power that is distributed over multiple sites throughout Canada and the US. (Some greenfield some brownfield)

What is the best approach to finding an off-taker ? I can’t get to the CTOs directly. Can anyone recommend a Colocation broker they have worked with?

Thank you 🙏

Hi everyone,

I’m currently mapping out my long-term career path and am really interested in working as a Data Center Technician at Google (or similar big tech infrastructure roles).

Given the rapid growth of AI, I prefer the hands-on physical and infrastructure side of tech—maintaining servers, troubleshooting hardware, handling rack/cable deployment, and managing hardware operations.

I’m effectively starting from scratch in terms of practical IT experience and certifications. I’d love to get honest feedback and advice from folks currently working in data centers or at Google:

1) Starting Point: If you were starting today, what basic certifications or self-study topics would you prioritize first (e.g., CompTIA Network+, Linux fundamentals, A+)?

2) Home Labs & Practice: What kind of home lab setups or hands-on projects actually look good on a resume for entry-level DCT positions?

3) Hiring Reality: Does Google hire entry-level techs without prior data center experience if they demonstrate solid foundational knowledge and certifications, or is it better to get experience at local data centers/ Contractor roles first?

4) Career & AI Resistance: For those working in the field, how do you view job security and career growth over the next 5-1O years as automation increases?

Thanks in advance for any insights or advice!